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Caribbean-Latin America
Daniel Ortega In Energy Pact With Venezuela
2007-01-12
Managua, 12 Jan. (AKI) - Subsidised petrol and a package of 15 cooperations projects with Venezuela have persuaded Nicaragua's newly elected president, Daniel Ortega, to enter Alternative for the Americas, launched by Venezuela's anti-US president Hugo Chavez. Ortega signed up to ALBA - which is aimed as a counterweight to US-proposed trade deals in the Americas - on Thursday after his inauguration as president. ALBA will end Nicaragua's energy supply problems, said Chavez, who set up the body to rival the Washington sponsored Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTTA).

Venezuela is using precisely these constraints to build and reinforce its relations with other Latin American countries via "oil diplomacy" that is attacting great interest from nations hit by series economic crises. Nicaragua, where 80 percent of the population lives in poverty, is the poorest state in the region after Haiti.

But analaysts and experts know fear that Chavez's "oil diplomacy" will become interference in Nicaraguan politics. Until Nicaragua's entry into ALBA, its only other members were Cuba and Bolivia. Equador, whose incoming left-wing president Raul Rafael Correa is a comrade friend of Chavez's, may also have his sights set on ALBA, however. He takes office on 15 January.


Chavez has promised Ortega he will build a 100,000 barrels per day oil refinery in the capital, Managua. It will also sell petrol to Nicaragua and highly subsidised prices - as it already does to Cuba. The deal under which Nicaragua entered ALBA guarantees the sale of 100 million barrels annually.

Under the deal, Venezuela will also supply 23 electricy generators to Nicaragua, and may construct a gas pipeline in the country. It will also cancel Nicaragua's debts (which amount to almost 32 million dollars) and open a number of branches of Venezuelan banks in Managua that will lend a total 20 million dollars to small companies.

The value of the 15 cooperation accords - which also include building 200,000 new homes in Grenada Nicaragua - is estimated to be some 600 million dollars.
Posted by:mrp

#3  I can't wait to see the mess this guy leaves behind when he dies.
Posted by: Mike N.   2007-01-12 23:48  

#2  And what is really funny about that is that very few refineries outside the US can refine the heavy crude that Venezuela pumps. It is crappy crude, with a lot of sulphur in it.
Posted by: Shieldwolf   2007-01-12 23:40  

#1  and a pony! How much of Venezuela's annual output has Hugo promised to various enemies of the US? 200%? 300%?
Posted by: Frank G   2007-01-12 18:30  

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